How New Education Funding Cuts Will Affect Schools In London

Schools in London will soon be feeling the impact of an estimated £3bn shortfall in the government’s education budget by 2020.

Schools in London will soon be feeling the impact of an estimated £3bn shortfall in the government’s education budget by 2020.

The picture is extremely bleak, with 98 per cent of schools set to lose funding, at a time when costs are rising and pupil numbers are growing.

London is likely to lose an average of £540 per pupil – a total of over half a billion pounds for the city as a whole. The average real terms cut per borough is over £17 million.

Newham is the worst hit, facing a loss of more than £31 million, with other Inner London boroughs facing heavy losses – nearly £29 million for Southwark and £28 million for Tower Hamlets. Even well-off boroughs like Richmond and Kensington & Chelsea stand to lose over £7 million each.

This funding shortfall is a result of drastically increased costs and levies on schools with no additional money from the government. London is also particularly badly hit by the new national funding formula the government has introduced.

While a fairer distribution of funding is the right thing to aim for, the introduction of the new formula at a time of real crisis in overall education funding means that schools in London will lose significant amounts of money, putting at risk the excellent teaching and school improvement it has seen in recent years.

The impact on learning will be significant. Class sizes in primary schools could rise and some GCSE and A Level subjects could be cut from the curriculum entirely as school budgets are pushed beyond breaking point.

No school should be losing funding as a result of the new formula when they are already suffering real terms cuts overall.

Those affected include the four main protagonists in the school funding proposals:

Prime Minister Theresa May, the MP for Maidenhead, can expect a real terms cut of £377 for every pupil in her constituency. All bar one of her schools will face real terms cuts, in the worst case by £872 for every pupil.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, can also expect to see all bar one school in his constituency suffer under Government spending policies. The average cut across the constituency will be £285 for every pupil.

Education Secretary Justine Greening is MP for Putney. Every school in her constituency will experience real terms cuts, with an average loss of £655 for every pupil. The worst-hit school will see a loss of £834 for every pupil in real terms.

Nick Gibb, Schools Minister and MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, will see every school in his constituency lose out. The average loss for every pupil will be £309 in real terms.

About NAHT:

NAHT represents more than 29,000 school leaders in early years, primary, secondary and special schools, making us the largest association for school leaders in the UK. We represent, advise and train school leaders in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We use our voice at the highest levels of government to influence policy for the benefit of leaders and learners everywhere. NAHT Edge supports, develops and represents middle leaders in schools.

Publish date:
27/02/2017 12:00 AM
National Association of Head Teachers